Mass graves suspected in Ivory Coast

Friday

Dec 31, 2010 at 12:01 AMDec 31, 2010 at 12:37 PM

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast - Reports of dozens of bodies being dumped near a large forest first emerged as human-rights groups warned that security forces loyal to incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo were abducting political opponents after the disputed election.

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — Reports of dozens of bodies being dumped near a large forest first emerged as human-rights groups warned that security forces loyal to incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo were abducting political opponents after the disputed election.

Now, the United Nations thinks that up to 80 bodies might have been moved to a building nestled among shacks in a pro-Gbagbo neighborhood. Investigators have tried to go there several times, and even made it as far as the building’s front door before truckloads of men with guns showed up and forced them to leave.

Gbagbo’s government repeatedly has denied the existence of mass graves after violence over the disputed presidential runoff that has left at least 173 confirmed dead.

Human-rights groups accuse Gbagbo’s security forces of abducting and torturing political opponents since the disputed Nov. 28 vote, which the United Nations said Gbagbo lost.

Investigators have cited dozens of reported cases of disappearances and nearly 500 arrests and detentions.

Human Rights Watch has said witnesses described nightly raids in which people were dragged away in official vehicles.

A second mass burial site is thought to be near Gagnoa in the interior of the country.